posted at 11:24 am on October 3, 2013 by Allahpundit

Via MFP, no incandescent moments of candor in this one but interesting nonetheless as a glimpse into the GOP’s messaging. If you’re wondering why Paul decided to invite the entirety of the Senate for coffee today, this is why: He thinks the Democrats are torching their shutdown PR advantage by constantly reiterating that they won’t negotiate. The lefty base might enjoy seeing them take a hard line but the White House’s media campaign depends upon the GOP being seen by the broader public as the ones who are obstinate and obstructionist. Paul’s trying to seize the opportunity by making Republicans, by contrast, look like they’re bending over backwards to encourage negotiations. A quote from his appearance on Fox News this morning: “We would get more done if we had a little more interaction between the two of us.” That also explains, I assume, his surprising support for a short-term CR to re-open the government for a week or two while negotiations continue. That’s going to be his message from now on — negotiations, negotiations, negotiations. The more reasonable he and the rest of the GOP appear to low-information voters, the greater the chance that the public will start to view Obama and Reid as the key stumbling blocks in all of this and thus the greater the pressure on them to make a deal will grow.

But … a deal on what? Robert Costa quotes a “senior Democratic source”:

Boehner raised the prospect of a grand bargain-type deal at the White House meeting and was laughed at because everyone feels like they’ve heard this song and dance before. The general feeling is, if he’s really ready to make some tough choices – read, revenue – then great. But the history of this from where we sit is Boehner talking a big game, then bailing as soon as he runs into the inevitable resistance from a certain faction in his caucus. So we will believe it when we see it, but are proceeding under the assumption that this is just more of the same big talk, no walk.

The GOP has less than two weeks to come up with a new grand bargain which, unlike all the abortive grand bargains of the past two years, will need somehow to be agreeable to O and congressional Democrats. Paul himself said yesterday that he feels no great pressure to raise the debt ceiling since, after all, Treasury takes in enough revenue to cover America’s monthly debt payments and legislation could order Treasury to prioritize — an interesting strategy, but not one that’s likely to bring a panicky media around to his view that the GOP’s the more reasonable of the two parties right now. Exit quotation from GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman: “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

Update: And here’s O himself speaking this morning and making Paul’s job a little easier:

Obama: "There will be no negotiations. The American people are not some sort of pawns in a poltical game."

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Exit quotation from GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman: “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

Obama’s doing a good job of turning Republicans who might willing to align with him in Congress into enemies by refusing them even symbolic or fig leaf “victories.” We’re lucky Obama and his team are so dumb or we might be much worse off than we already are.

You have to get something out of this???? How ’bout we the people getting something out of this. We want less spending, less free stuff handed out to moochers, less gun running, less foreign aide to terrorists, no abortion funding, less regulations on energy, etc. Call us when you get the message.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic Bachmann to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

an interesting strategy, but not one that’s likely to bring a panicky media around to his view that the GOP’s the more reasonable of the two parties right now.

Wait…what? The GOP could promise to give Barky everything on his communist dream list and the media would still paint them as obstructionist terrorist child-killers. The media will NEVER come around to anything that doesn’t make Dog Eater look good. Never. Ever.

We thought you were different, but you turned out to be like all the others. You promised hope and change, but we trust government even less than before. You offered a new brand of post-partisan governing, but the red states and blue states are farther apart than ever.

Washington was a mess when you arrived in January of 2009, but by breaking your promises and, frankly, our hearts, you made it worse.

You vowed to ban lobbyists from the White House only to sneak them in through loopholes.
Advertisement

You barred corporate donations to the first inauguration but let the special interest money rain down the second time around. You even learned to love super PACs.

Wait…what? The GOP could promise to give Barky everything on his communist dream list and the media would still paint them as obstructionist terrorist child-killers. The media will NEVER come around to anything that doesn’t make Dog Eater look good. Never. Ever.

Bishop on October 3, 2013 at 11:33 AM

Did you hear the lazy stupid coward in Rockville, MD, this morning? Apparently the GOP is to agree to the Senate’s version of the CR, cede any opposition to Obamacare, and raise the debt ceiling. Then and only then will the lazy stupid coward agree to sit down and have a reasonable discussion about a “whole variety of issues” [and here's the fun part] just as his actions have demonstrated over the last four years.

The filthy thin-skinned rat is a pathalogical liar. I think even the media is finding it hard to prop him up these days.

Agreed. Those old white guys from WWII are just…well…old white guys. And the kids, like Fritos we can always get more.

Bishop on October 3, 2013 at 11:34 AM
—–

They can go back when it’s open again.

Right now, it’s closed.

Pretty simple.

The vets blindsided everybody by showing up to the memorial.

Maybe if the Republicans didn’t have their heads in their asses and thought ahead they could have demanded that things like vet memorials and such remain funded/staffed, so they could have appeared to hold some things sacred.

But no, the tea party a-holes wanted everything shut, and so it came to be.

I’d add three other things, with which virtually no one–except partisans–disagree. First, dump the medical-devices tax. Highlight all the Dems (Franken, Klobuchar, et al.) who want it gone. Second, subject all branches of the federal government, except military, to Obamacare. (Or at least where it affects those responsible for this clusterphuck.) Third, consider postponing the individual mandate.

Maybe the third one is optional because I think individuals will hate the system–whether the bugs in the technology or the premium quotations or the effect of the interaction of the subsidies and deductibles or the identity theft. The sooner that Americans are enraged about that, the better.

The more reasonable he and the rest of the GOP appear to low-information voters, the greater the chance that the public will start to view Obama and Reid as the key stumbling blocks in all of this and thus the greater the pressure on them to make a deal will grow.

SHAMEFYL SHAMEFUL SHAMEFUL!!! This is a testament that conservative principle that brought this whole country to this IS GARBAGE, TRASH, BS.

oh yeah…You guys are so much better than the left. And you wonder why I say FU to both sides.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic smirking Bachmann obama to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope your coffins are comfortable.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope you live a looooong life and suffer this agony into the 120s. I love that your agony brought you out from under the big loser rock, in Canada and in the US.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic Bachmann to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

I hope your coffins are comfortable.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

What an erudite leftist you are…because you are never liberal or progressive, you Canadian thug. YOU shame your wonderful land.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic Bachmann to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

You might want to get the facts right. The honor flights are not surprise visits. They were expected at the memorial and politicians were there because they honor flight program contacted the White House (OPM) and were told that the vets were out of luck. In other words, Obama’s people said no out of spite.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic smirking Bachmann obama to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope your coffins are comfortable.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope you live a looooong life and suffer this agony into the 120s. I love that your agony brought you out from under the big loser rock, in Canada and in the US.

Schadenfreude on October 3, 2013 at 11:40 AM
——

Looking through the shut down threads, I just want to say thank you for all your hilarious comments.

If you spent a nanosecond away from Hotair and Drudge and Fox and whatever choir you sing with at the coffee shop, you would actually see the shutdown is an enormous disaster for your party.

The longer it’s shut, the more people sign up for health insurance, and the Obama bandaid on your healthcare brain tumour will prove to improve things ever so slightly, and all your pants sh*tting over it will prove to be completely wrong, and the next elections will show just how wrong you were.

Or are you still spinning your head at how badly you lost in 2012? Still can’t figure it out? Ahh, never mind. You’ll never get it.

The general feeling is, if he’s really ready to make some tough choices – read, revenue – then great.

When Democrats speak of “revenue”, they mean “higher taxes”.

But the reality is that raising taxes would result in LOWER revenues.

Take a look back on what happend when the 2003 Bush Tax Cuts lowered taxes for every taxpayer in America. Tax rates were cut, but revenues went UP, not down. A mere 4 years after the passage of the 2003 Bush Tax Cuts, FY 2007 revenues were a whopping 44% higher than FY 2003 revenues.

It’s the Laffer Curve in action.

If Democrats were serious about balancing the budget (which they aren’t), then they would:

I think one thing is clear, “Conservative Principles” are not convincing anyone who wasn’t a conservative before to even support a conservative, let alone become one.

Obama is a loser. That’s old news. I wanted to see how this great conservative revolution would change things for the better….and seriously….you guys can shut up and sit down now. Why?

Notice how Rand said: We fought, we couldn’t get it, but we’re willing to compromise..SO…. WHY SHUT THE GVT DOWN IF YOU REALIZED THAT YOU CAN’T STOP OC?? WHY ARE IS THE GVT SHUT DOWN, AND OBAMACARE GLITCHINGLY REGISTERING PEOPLE (I know of only 2 ppl who did but still!)

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic smirking Bachmann obama to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope your coffins are comfortable.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope you live a looooong life and suffer this agony into the 120s. I love that your agony brought you out from under the big loser rock, in Canada and in the US.

Schadenfreude on October 3, 2013 at 11:40 AM

Posting from 30k feet?

Yes, if the GOP can’t leverage it’s minority role in the government to overturn the law of the land, let’s play word games.

How come you trolls are never to be found on threads that totally demolish your princeling….like when Putin minced him on Syria?

Your abundant presence on these threads is telling. It’s always a sign of losers.

Oh, Rywall, it’s a good think that obama ‘won’ again, like Mugabe did in his recent round. He is NO different and mold gets killed in light. It’s actually glorious to see the dummies in the land suffer, from both sides. It’s schadenfreude pure, from 30,000 feet or from the sea, or from Africa, or from any place.

Yes, if the GOP can’t leverage it’s minority role in the government to overturn the law of the land, let’s play word games.

Democratic refusal to kill Obamacare = failure to negotiate

Of course!

bayam on October 3, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Stupid. As if liberals ever simply accept anything that is “the law of the land”. Heh. Even Obama is ignoring the “law of the land” by an imperial wave of his hand granting – illegally and unconstitutionally – a one year delay of the mandate on businesses. What is that about the “law of the land” again? Chirp chirp.

And “overturn” – currently they are asking for a 1 year delay of the law. that is hardly overturning or unreasonable. So stop your silliness.

I love lefties/media – when the GOP refuses to give up on a principal, it is outrageous. How dare they not negotiate. When Obama decides to do the same exact thing it is somehow high minded.

But, I never expect lefties such as yourself to be honest, ethical, moral, consistent or rational. You have never exhibited one of those qualities before, why would you now?

If your party gave a flying f*ck about the memorial, they would have tried to keep it open while negotiating the shut down.

They did not, so spare me this enormous pile of bullish*t

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Wow, you just make this crap up as you go along, don’t you.

1. The GOP did not shut down the memorials. Obama did. The House sent a bill to the Senate specifically dealing with a CR for the National Park Service. Dems refuse to act on that along with services for veterans and research that would help children with cancer.

2. Are you suggesting those 90-year-olds were out of line?

3. The GOP rightfully has blamed Obama for being a spiteful prick. There is no reason why to barricade an outdoor memorial that otherwise would be unbarrycaded. Why, for example, did they have to block off the sidewalk in front of the Vietnam Memorial.

4. Finally, I was under the impression that you’re a Canadian parasite. I’m not quite sure you understand how this stuff works in the United States but the President doesn’t get to be a dictator.

They weren’t around when Putin sodomized their hero and Zero thanked him and asked to negotiate for more.

Yesterday, Zero said he would negotiate and scheduled a meeting. Then as the meeting approached he announced, “Nope, no negotiation. I don’t have to!” Boehner shows up and eventually comes out announcing, “They won’t negotiate.”

It’s most glorious to experience every day of the slowdown how many uessentials loot/mooch off the govt.

YOU are the TEAT party, like RWM perfectly labelled you.

Let it be shut. Live like the rest of the producers do. They have kids and mortgages, like some of you, but they also have you to support. Then you turn into ingrates against those hands which feed you.

Everything that’s happening is so predictable, from giggly ecstatic smirking Bachmann obama to crybabying about the WWII memorial to the outrage over the kids with cancer being denied care, to the enormous ENORMOUS silence over cuts to aid for the poor.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope your coffins are comfortable.

Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:32 AM

I hope you live a looooong life and suffer this agony into the 120s. I love that your agony brought you out from under the big loser rock, in Canada and in the US.

Schadenfreude on October 3, 2013 at 11:40 AM

Both drywall and brayam are Canadians, living in Canada, covered by the Canadian healthcare system.

Why are they so completely dedicated to forcing socialist healthcare on the United States. What can their stake in this debate possibly be?

They can go back when it’s open again.
Right now, it’s closed.
Pretty simple.

What are you, the love child of Harry Reid? The kids can always go back later for cancer treatments which keep them alive? Uhhh…you don’t seem to understand the reason for cancer treatments…

The vets blindsided everybody by showing up to the memorial.

A regularly scheduled visit that they informed the Park Service about weeks ago, and their visit isn’t the first by the Honor Flight organization, more like the fiftieth, how is that blindsiding?

Maybe if the Republicans didn’t have their heads in their asses and thought ahead they could have demanded that things like vet memorials and such remain funded/staffed, so they could have appeared to hold some things sacred.
Dave Rywall on October 3, 2013 at 11:39 AM

Why would the GOP think they needed to provide special funding for an open-air, walk in anytime memorial which is never staffed and open 24/7/365, you can visit the place on Christmas Day at 0330 if you want to.

Jeebus, if ignorance were nickels you would be richer than Nancy Pelosi.

I actually visited it years ago. With my Lab, wanted to have him visit his roots. Stopped at the local to wet our whistles ( dogs welcome) Nice couple asked where we were going and I told them we were headed down to Trans -Canada hwy to find a motel. Wife told me ” nonsense, lass, you and the dog stay with us.”